Yemen : a troubled history

North Yemen

26 September 1962 :Following a military coup the Zaidi imamate in the north becomes the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR).

1963 : Civil war between royalists supported by Saudi Arabia and republicans backed by Egypt.

1964 : Fighting ends with a ceasefire, but without a signed peace treaty the state of war persists.

South Yemen

30 November 1967 : Withdrawal of British troops from the port of Aden. End of colonial occupation of the south and birth of the People’s Republic of South Yemen.

1970 : The government of South Yemen adopts Marxist policies and changes the country’s name to the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), merging all the political parties into the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP), which becomes the only legal party.

1970-80 : Sporadic fighting breaks out between the north and south, but both sides start oil prospecting.

1980s : Drilling and export of oil starts.

1988 : Agreements between north and south ease political tension, enabling joint oil prospecting to be organised in border areas.

Yemen unified

22 May 1990 : Unification of the YAR and PDRY to form the Republic of Yemen. Ali Abdullah Saleh (ex-president of the YAR) becomes president and Ali Salim al-Bidh (ex-president of the PDRY) vice-president. Economic downturn and political instability follow.

1993 : End of the transition period, with the first general election for the whole country. President Saleh’s party, the General People’s Congress (GPC), the YSP and Islah (the Yemeni Gathering for Reform) form a coalition.

1994 : Civil war between May and July after the south announces its secession. The capture of Aden and defeat of secessionist forces end the conflict.

1997 : The GPC wins the country’s second general election, with enough seats no longer to need a coalition with Islah and the YSP.

1998 : Rioting rocks the country following price rises introduced as part of economic reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

1999 : Saleh is elected president with 96.3% of the vote in the first presidential election with universal suffrage.

2001 : The GPC wins the local elections and the president proposes changes to the constitution to extend his mandate from five to seven years. In October an attack on the USS Cole kills 17 American sailors. The 9/11 attacks in the US trigger a wave of arrests in Yemen. Twenty-one Yemeni nationals are interned at Guantanamo Bay, forming the second largest national contingent imprisoned there.

2003 : In the general election the GPC wins an absolute majority. Islah and leftwing parties join in opposition to the government. Violence erupts in the province of Sa’ada between security forces and supporters of the Zaidi group led by Hussein Badr al-Din al-Huthi.

2005 : Rioting all over the country sparked by rising prices, due to IMF and World Bank structural adjustment policies.

2006 : Saleh wins the presidential election with 77.17% of the poll. A coalition of opposition parties, primarily Islah and the YSP, takes 21.8% of the vote.

2007 : Saleh proposes amendments to the constitution. A reduction in the presidential mandate, from seven to five years, is among the ten measures proposed. Violence breaks out in Sa’ada and the south.